Faculty Profile
“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves” John Dewey
Dr. Fennema received her Ed.D. in instructional technology and distance education from Nova Southeastern University. She obtained her M.Ed. from John Carroll University in Cleveland Ohio in Educational Technology.
Currently Dr. Fennema is an instructional design faculty member in the College of Health and Public Administration. She provides guidance in instructional design to both the Department of Public Administration (the undergraduate and graduate programs in Public Administration) and the Department of Health (the undergraduate and graduate programs in Nursing).
Dr. Fennema has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Franklin University, Walden University, and Dordt College. For five years she taught a course in instructional strategies for the Chinese Teacher Training Center in Beijing China as a visiting professor. She has led multiple faculty workshops, trainings, and seminars in the areas of learning theory, learning strategies, teaching strategies, and instructional design. Recently she developed and led a workshop for the faculty in the College of Health and Public Administration about Tools and Tricks for Effective Communication and a session for the International Innovations in Education Forum held at Franklin University.
Her university service includes participation in multiple committees including, Academic Standards, Academic Technology, Sabbatical, Policy Review, and Instructional Design.
Dr. Fennema’s predominant research interests include learning theory and the learning process, instructional strategies for online education, adult learning, and the use of media in the learning process. She has a passion for providing a learning environment in which students successfully learn.
She resides with her husband in Columbus, Ohio and enjoys spending time with family, including 12 grandchildren scattered around the U.S. and reading a variety of genres. Dr. Fennema and her husband have enjoyed world travel and have visited a variety of countries and enjoyed the cultures in all of them.